The making of Saibaba's idol at Shirdi

Ahead of Saibaba’s 100th death anniversary, we look at the family that created the original idol.

Lakhs of people are expected to congregate in Shirdi on October 18 for the 100th death anniversary of Saibaba. Among them will be a family of sculptors from Girgaon, which has been inextricably linked to the Saibaba temple for the last seven decades, ever since Balaji Vasant Talim sculpted the idol of the saint that is installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple at Shirdi.

The thousands of devotees will each have tales about Saibaba’s benevolence, but the story that led to the making of the idol is no less interesting. It all starts with a dream Balaji had in the summer of 1954.

Balaji, who studied at the JJ School of Art, was one among three sculptors commissioned by the Saibaba Sansthan Trust to create idols of the saint. But there was a problem. “My father (Harish Talim) told me that my grandfather simply couldn’t start making the idol, because there was only one photograph available and it was not a side profile. A side profile is important to get the details of the face right,” says Rajiv Talim, who runs the Talims’ studio along with his son Gaurang.

Raids on properties belonging to Chennai businessman and art aficionado Ranvir Shah show how loopholes in the system can be exploited to usurp antiquities.

“But, finally, after three months, Baba paid grandfather a ‘visit’ at his studio. It was a fleeting moment, but he told my father that he actually saw him standing there.” Inspired by the encounter, Balaji set to work with renewed vigour, and the statue got made in about two weeks.
When the trust’s officials visited the studio, they were stunned. “They said that the idol was almost life-like, and asked my grandfather to put the finishing touches to it. Eventually, it was the one chosen for the temple,” says Rajiv, sitting amid dozens of Saibaba idols of varying sizes. Over the last 80-odd years — the studio, originally located at Tribhuvan Road, moved to Girgaon in the 50s — the Talims have sculpted over 1,500 Saibaba idols. And these have been shipped across the world, including to a temple in a small town near Osaka, in Japan. Their clients have included actor Manoj Kumar, singer Lata Mangeshkar, and former state chief minister, the late Vilasrao Deshmkuh.

The Talims have sculpted over 1,500 Saibaba idols of varying sizes over the last 80 years; (Inset) BV Talim, the man behind the original Saibaba idol at Shirdi

The Talims still use the original plaster cast made by Balaji for their idols. “That’s why our idols are just like the one at Shirdi,” says Rajiv. The idol at Shirdi measures five-and-a-half feet, and is made of Italian marble, and the Talims say that there is nothing quite like it, especially when it comes to etching finer details on the face. “The face is the most important part. That is what gives an idol life,” says Rajiv. This year alone, the studio has created around seven ‘Shirdi-size’ Saibaba idol. “People want the exact look and feel of the original statue. So we have to take a lot of care,” says Gaurang.
The Talims have also sculpted other noteworthy statues. Rajiv’s father Harish Talim sculpted the iconic Hutatama Smarak in south Mumbai, as well as the 22-feet tall Mahatma Gandhi statue, which is installed in a garden near Mantralaya. But, quite naturally, they are the last word on Saibaba idols, and are regularly consulted by the Shirdi Temple Trust.

“A few years ago, the statue at Shirdi had acquired a yellowish tinge. When we inspected it, we found that the daily abhishek (holy bath) with honey and ghee was causing the de-colouration. And there was also wear and tear associated with the regular wiping of the statue. So we asked them to reduce the quantity of honey and ghee and use more water, and they promptly agreed,” says Rajiv.

Before we leave, Rajiv, like all Saibaba devotees, tells us another story. This is about how BV Talim came across an excellent block of marble with which he created the original idol. Back in 1954, after he was commissioned by the temple at Shirdi to sculpt an idol, BV Talim was looking for a good block of marble and had sent requests to marble quarries in Rajasthan. But he was not happy with the samples he was sent across.

Then, according to Rajiv, one day a friend of his, who worked at the-then Bombay Port Trust, called on him and said that there was a block of marble lying at the docks, and that it had no takers. “My grandfather decided to check it out. When he went to the docks, it turned out to be a marble block shipped from Italy,” says Rajiv. “He thought this was nothing but divine intervention and that is how the idol at Shirdi came into being.”